Forum

Welcome to our general Forum page. Please feel free to post a comment on any issue or topic area. If you upload a picture, it will be available for you to insert here with your post. IF YOU WANT HELP WITH IDENTIFICATION, PLEASE PROVIDE A FULL POSTCODE OR GRID REFERENCE AND DATE of the record in your post so that it can be added to the recording scheme. You can send a message or ask a question about British spider identification here. If your query is about spiders from other parts of the World, please find another forum. We are unable to help. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum. Find out more and Help adding forum posts. You will find some helper toolbar buttons in the add post and post editor, as well as your most recently uploaded pictures as toolbar buttons. Click on the toolbar picture to add it to your post.

Sun 28th October 2018 18:25 by Steven Mcmurray

Any ideas??

Just found this little beauty in my kitchen, tucked away down the tube of a soup hand blender attachment!! Genius, phenomenally strong web structure. Had to move her as first day of winter, I was making vegetable soup!!

This looks like Steatoda nobilis, the so-called 'noble false widow', the spider which the media make such an unjustified fuss about. It has been frequent in the southern coastal counties of England for a great many years, and is nowadays frequent and abundant in many areas of southern England and Wales, including the south coast, south-west, south-east, London area and East Anglia, and increasingly much further north. The media frenzy caused by this spider is unwarranted. Steatoda nobilis spiders are unobtrusive, have no interest in attacking humans and would only bite if they were put into a position where they do so as a defensive reaction. Honey bees and social wasps pose a far greater risk. There are a number of other 'false widows' in Britain, some which are native or have been in the country for centuries, so there is a lot of misinformation about these spiders.

Hello, I'm new to this site but have just added a photo of what I believe is a false widow but can anyone confirm it please? I found it on an old garden gate I was replacing and it seemed to be sitting upon a sizeable nest. Carefully placed it and the nest in a safe place so hopefully it survives the upset.

Thanks! That is really helpful, I just thought they were really good looking spiders so wondered what they were. I also use iNaturalist for logging pictures etc. for general ecology and always struggle with spider identification. I have loads from my garden and elsewhere as I do love spiders and their variety.

The first photo is Amaurobius similis, a common spider of walls, fences etc on or near buildings. It is harmless to humans. The second is Steatoda bipunctata, a variable spider which is harmless to humans and widespread in buildings and gardens.

Found these in a cupboard, under/behind a box. Location: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, grid ref SO946228. Date 14th Oct 2018. Each of the little "enclosures" is around 3 to 4 mm long. The dark specks appear to be fragments rather than entire creatures.

This looks like Steatoda grossa, a spider previously most common in the southwest and occurring more sparingly eastwards and northwards, but in recent years it has also become more frequent further north and widespread in the south-east (see http://srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal.php/p/Summary/s/Steatoda+grossa ).

This looks like Steatoda nobilis, the so-called 'noble false widow', the spider which the media make such an unjustified fuss about. It has been frequent in the southern coastal counties of England for a great many years, and is nowadays frequent and abundant in many areas of southern England and Wales, including the south coast, south-west, south-east, London area and East Anglia, and increasingly much further north. The media frenzy caused by this spider is unwarranted. Steatoda nobilis spiders are unobtrusive, have no interest in attacking humans and would only bite if they were put into a position where they do so as a defensive reaction. Honey bees and social wasps pose a far greater risk. There are a number of other 'false widows' in Britain, some which are native or have been in the country for centuries, so there is a lot of misinformation about these spiders.

The uploaded photo On Conservatory door outside is a garden spider Araneus diadematus. These become adult in late summer and early autumn, and then their presence on their large orb webs is often more obvious in gardens. It is also a very variable spider in terms of colour and depth of markings. They are harmless to humans.